Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan lauds decision to name new DU college after Veer Savarkar

NEW DELHI: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday lauded Delhi University's Vice Chancellor for naming the varsity's new college after BJP ideologue Veer Savarkar and accused those who opposed the decision of harbouring a "colonial mindset". On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for Veer Savarkar College at Roshanpura, Najafgarh.

"Savarkar was a great nationalist, but there is a section of society with a colonial mindset who have objections to the DU college being named after him. I want to thank the DU Vice Chancellor for dedicating the new college in his name," Pradhan said.

The education minister was speaking at an event titled 'Sashakt Beti and e-Drishti' at Delhi University here, aimed at empowering marginalised sections of society through technology.

Education minister distributes laptops and tablets to girl students

As part of the initiative, Pradhan distributed laptops and tablets to orphaned girl students, daughters of single parents, and visually impaired students at university. The event also saw the launch of an advanced life support ambulance donated by the LIC Golden Jubilee Foundation and the release of a book, "Commemorative Volume of Donor's Chronicle 2024," which highlights the contributions of donors to the university.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari attended the event as the guest of honor. Pradhan also encouraged the university to seek donations from its alumni network through the University of Delhi Foundation group, which facilitated the distribution of the laptops.

In his address, DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh emphasised the significance of "dharma" (righteousness) in education. Reciting a Sanskrit shloka, he said, "Dharma is important. The 9/11 attacks were carried out by well-educated individuals, but they lacked a sense of dharma, which led them to commit such acts."